One of the worst environmental disasters in recent memory has unfolded over the last week in Kingston, Tennessee, where a massive coal waste spill has unleashed over a billion gallons of potentially toxic sludge into the Clinch River and surrounding land. Worst yet, the Tennessee Valley Authority – the nation’s largest government-owned utility, which owns the plant where the spill occurred – failed to properly warn residents in the area of the toxins the sludge contains.
The spill is nearly 50 times as big as the famous 1989 Exxon-Valdez spill in Alaska. It occurred around 1am on December 22nd when a wall holding back 80 acres of sludge from the TVA’s Fossil Plant gave way. Eight days later, the TVA has yet to release sampling data from the ash pile, and they’re actually trying to claim that the fly ash is not toxic.
From CNN:
The sludge is a byproduct of the ash from coal combustion. A retention site at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, contained the waste until a wall breached last Monday, sending the sludge downhill to damage 15 homes and cover at least 300 acres.
All the residents were evacuated, and three homes were deemed uninhabitable, according to the TVA.
The TVA’s initial estimate for the spill tripled from 1.8 million cubic yards, or more than 360 million gallons of sludge, to 5.4 million cubic yards, or more than 1 billion gallons.
Aerial footage of the spill, from the TVA website:
The cause of the dam break is still under investigation. TVA has vowed to clean up the mess but says it could take months or even years. Meanwhile, residents fear that toxic elements could end up in their drinking water. They’re also concerned that once the mire dries out, fly ash will become airborne. The EPA has found elevated levels of arsenic in surface water, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said elevated contaminant levels were found in the immediate area of the spill.
Coal ash contains heavy metals including arsenic, mercury and lead. United Mountain Defense, a non-profit environmental organization based in Knoxville, Tennessee, has a fact sheet on the toxicity of coal ash based on 2007 EPA findings. The fact sheet details an EPA assessment that found extremely high risks to human health and the environment from the disposal of coal ash in waste ponds and landfills. The chart below illustrates the cancer risk of exposure to coal ash compared to that of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
The Examiner reports that two United Mountain Defense activists trying to take photos of the spill were arrested and detained on Saturday. It’s not clear why TVA police detained the two men, since they were on public land.
David Cooper and Matt Landon who were detained by the TVA police planned to take water samples but were just taking photographs of the spill at the time of their arrest. TVA has not responded to requests for more information on the incident.
David Cooper commented, “…the dust and airborne contaminants from the coal ash are dangerous. Workers on the clean up site should be wearing respiratory protection. This could cause breathing problems for the workers like we saw at the World Trade Center.” He also went on to say he was sorry that he and his fellow activist had caused problems for TVA, and that their “concern is for the safety of nearby residents and their families.”
David Cooper gave The Huffington Post a first-hand account of how UMD has been coordinating a citizen response to the disaster, handling the media, and testing the water. Of his detainment, he says:
When we tried to take pictures of the sign, we were quickly accosted by an agitated TVA official wearing agreen vest, who demanded we leave immediately. We drove on to the next checkpoint, where we were detained for almost an hour. The TVA official called TVA police and demanded that we be arrested. Fortunately the local ABC News affiliate (Channel 6) was there to capture the whole scene of our detention, and we were eventually allowed to leave.
Clean coal, my ass. This is just another heartbreaking example of how toxic coal really is. The citizens of Kingston and surrounding areas will be dealing with the effects of this spill for years into the future, and the way TVA is downplaying the effects is reprehensible.
If you want to help, the United Mountain Defense has details on their blog, TVA Coal is Killing Tennessee.
Link [CNN] + [The Examiner] + [The Huffington Post] + [UMD]
Photo credit: UMD
